Astronomers discover new moon around Pluto
17:15, 21 July 2011
WASHINGTON. July 21. KAZINFORM Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced Wednesday in a statement. The tiny, new satellite, temporarily designated P4, was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.
According to Xinhua, P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28. It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18. It is the smallest moon discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km).
Details at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-07/21/c_13998443.htm